Birds of Prey came out right as I was coming out of a breakup and it just hit me perfectly. It's the first thing that made me smile and I was bummed it wasn't as well received as other movies. It's one of my favorite DC movies. I'm happy they are letting more voices tell stories. We get wild rides like this movie when other people get a seat at the helm.
My ranking of the DCEU movies is Birds of Prey, then Aquaman, then Wonder Woman, and I guess the others also exist. Birds of Prey was a good fucking movie, and easily somewhere in the top 10 of "superhero genre" movies.
Unfortunately, the Snyderverse almost killed variety (in world-building, sub-genre, artistic style, point-of-view...) in truly unique DC movies by steering them towards Marvel-oriented, soap-opera uniformity instead. My favourite DC movies are: 1. Batman Returns 2. A History of Violence 3. Batman Begins 4. V For Vendetta 5. Shazam! 6. Wonder Woman 7. Birds of Prey 8. Watchmen ...and I am really looking forward to watching Wonder Woman and The Batman next.
I love this movie especially as a DCEU installment because it's the exact opposite of the Snyder era that turned me away from the new things DC could be doing to set themselves apart from Marvel in a meaningful way. > An unapologetically feminist film that says more about the world with its characters than just "The world is dark and that's sooo coool!"? Check. > Women are written as actual characters with compelling dynamics, psyches, and wants instead of being side pieces to the apparent Randian ubermensch? Check. > Emotional authenticity over power fantasy? Check. > A finale that doesn't end in an overly long explosion of CGI? Check.
Batman TAS also brilliantly reinvented Mr. Freeze into a tragic, somewhat relatable villain rather than a campy ice-themed joke. Of course, then Batman and Robin turned him back into a campy ice-themed joke.
Well, to be honest, in Batman & Robin, we have both. We have the tragic, somewhat relatable villain, *combined* with the campy ice-themed jokes. Sure, he enters with "What killed de dinosaurs? De EIS AAAAAAGE", but his whole motivation is rooted in his wife being in cryostasis through the McGregor-Syndrome. ALthough - to be honest - I gotta admit, I sometimes am against "turning all the villains in relatable people". Sometimes you still need your "Snidey-Whiplash"-Moustache-Twirling-Villain, because if you turn each and every villain into a relatable character, the whole thing falls apart. In especially, that counts for comic-book-movies, since if you try to turn them into realistic movies, other things, maybe staples of the franchise, will be noticed as kinda stupid. In especially: the batman franchise. One of the staples was the Bat-signal in the sky, but isn't that signalling the people of Gotham, that their own police force is incompetent? If so: Why are still so many people living there? Say about the 60s Batman what you want, but at least the communication between Bruce/Bats and Comissioner Gordon was stealthy. No one - except maybe Aunt Harriett - would notice, that the Police basically said "We don't know how to handle the situation, so... come, big, bad Bat, come and help us." Same with Bats itself: How can any criminal be put into Arkham Asylum, if one question would suffice, to get everyone out? Harvey Dent should just ask the Judge: "Who put me behind bars? And before you say the obvious: Who *is* Batman?"
@@deraltetrekkie6088 >Well, to be honest, in Batman & Robin, we have both. We have the tragic, somewhat relatable villain, combined with the campy ice-themed jokes. Sure, he enters with "What killed de dinosaurs? De EIS AAAAAAGE", but his whole motivation is rooted in his wife being in cryostasis through the McGregor-Syndrome. True, I almost mentioned that they tried to keep the B:TAS motivation but I still felt they did a terrible job of it. It's probably best if we just pretend that B&R never happened. > ALthough - to be honest - I gotta admit, I sometimes am against "turning all the villains in relatable people". I totally agree with you, but bear in mind that this Mr. Freeze update was done in the early 1990s, long before the current trend of doing so. And they did a really good job of it at the time.
@@deraltetrekkie6088 I do believe Freeze being relatable is why Ivy was kept cartoonishly evil in B&R. We sympathized with Freeze (and tbh, I kinda loved the ice puns), so Ivy was the villain you rooted against.
I love Mikey but he’s right-Dan reached that level most dream of and never achieve. He gave voice to the cognitive dissonance that was the first Suicide Squad movie. He may have peaked with that video.
Mikeys theme music always gives me a feeling of crazy joy for the oncoming soliloquy. That could be some measure of quality. The jingles of reminders of good viewing, nostalgia in the making.
The Harley Quinn show is a VERY nice breath of fresh air; it’s shockingly violent, oddly humorous at times, has a bunch of great characters working off of each other perfectly... Not a masterpiece, but I definitely like it! :)
@@jamesburgess2k they have the PERFECT sort of Batman for what that show needs him to be. Just this one, comically-stern guy refusing to go along with the silly, amoral spirit of the show
I think this movie will be one of those that people will appreciate it more and more as time goes on. It was a very fun movie and I'm glad it was the last movie I saw in theaters before The Dark Times. Also, good luck with the house! Going to buy some merchandise now!
I, for one, found a lot to appreciate about the movie, even if the end result could’ve been a lot better. Cathy Yan had only made one other movie before this one, and that one is much, much, MUCH better... but this one is, at the very least, not bad.
Something that I love about Birds of Prey (and Shazam) is that instead of a typical love interest, it's the sidekick BUT it still kinda has the same beats as a love interest! Our heroes are thrown together by circumstances, they have meaningful conversation and even though they argue, they end the movie riding off into the sunset together! Heck, Harley paraphrases a romantic line from As Good As It Gets to Cassie ("You make me wanna be a less crappy person) and it works!! BOP SAYS PLATONIC LOVE IS STILL MEANINGFUL LOVE!!
I enjoyed the heck out of Birds of Prey. Just big old goofy fun with enough character development stuff going on to keep me hooked. Also, that sandwich looked dope.
Birds of Prey is crazy, and entertaining as heck! It’s an unapologetic kick ass chick empowerment flick - and there’s nothing wrong with that!! And to be clear - it does not ‘diminish’ men in any way - just as a kick ass testosterone fueled John Wick film doesn’t diminish women Birds of Prey at its core, is a love story, between a girl and her fried egg sandwich 🥪 - nothing, and I mean nothing should get in the way of that!!!
If anyone was wondering where the quotes came from; Shakespeare, A mid Summer Night's Dream, last lines of the play. If we shadows have offended, Think but this, and all is mended, That you have but slumber'd here While these visions did appear. And this weak and idle theme, No more yielding but a dream, Gentles, do not reprehend: if you pardon, we will mend: And, as I am an honest Puck, If we have unearned luck Now to 'scape the serpent's tongue, We will make amends ere long; Else the Puck a liar call; So, good night unto you all. Give me your hands, if we be friends, And Robin shall restore amends.
Yeah, my favorite part was how they all waited their turns, to go at her one-by-one, & didn't take shots, even when they had clear opportunity -- that's the kind of polite behavior I love in an action movie... :/
It's depressing that I haven't been able to go to a theater in over a year but I'm so happy that my last theater trip pre-pandemic was my 5th viewing of this movie! It's so brilliant! I'm happy you did an ep on it.
I wanna know who is reading it because my mind thinks it's an amalgamation of Jesse Eisenberg and Michael Cera and I'm sure that's not just me reading into things and filling in blanks
Yeah Snyder made his vision really well, I just find his vision to be joyless and depressing. It's good at being that but I hope we can move on and get new visions.
god. I adored birds of prey so much simple for being as bizarre as it was and I am delighted ti know I am not alone in that. its my little slice of wonderland with a lot of blood and you're absolutely right in saying... its a miracle that it got made. not only did it get made, it got made joyfully by the cast and crew. I could always feel it too and thats part of what makes it dynamite-ness so apparent to me. you can taste how much everyone was having fun and excited about this. I wish that it was given more space to breathe in the public cultural brain space than it did but im glad that you had a chance to talk about it. go king give us everything
I know, right? 2020 was another world-changing event. It was either this or Charlie’s Angels, another movie made by women for women that was really good but didn’t make as much as it should have because of that, that was the last movie I saw in theaters before the suck.
I can't count how many times I've already thought "okay, this intro has been going on for far too long. Surely he's gotten rid of his brilliant opening credits that I love so much now. Why, oh cruel world, why!" Although I have to ask, is it still called opening credits if it's toward the middle of the video and there was an entire set of different opening credits already?
I loved Birds of Prey when it came out! I disliked almost every other DCEU film but this film was my jam! I’m happy we still get to see Margo Robbie as Harley Quinn!
So far the only two real hits of the DCEU are BoP and Shazam. With Wonder Woman and Aquaman both being servicably enjoyable in different ways (WW was competent and solid with a weak ending, and Aquaman was kinda bad but like in a good way, but that's just kinda Justin Lin's thing). And probably, "The Suicide Squad" will be very good.
I come back and watch this video every now and then. I love the glorious necessity of the 'intro' to an 18 minute video being fully 1/3 of the run time, only to end/start with a quote from my favorite Shakespeare play. It's like Mikey and team asked me what I wanted with Harley Quinn discourse and put it into a video.
I wasn't a big fan of the BoP, but I loved the visuals. Like Speed Racer, the universe was colorful and immersive, the bad guys were comically over the top, the bank scene was wonderfully shot and choreographed, and the unreliable narrator of Harley made it all work (for the most part). It was just some of the comedy didn't hit right for me and the plot did not make sense for most of the characters (the building of the group throughout the movie felt neither organic or narratively justified). Still love hearing Mikey's take; he finds the best in every movie and makes me want to watch them again to see it through more positive eyes.
Really love where you came around to by the end of the episode and how much you packed into this eighteen-minute gem -- and all while rebuilding a house! Dang. Hats off. I'm going to go buy some merch now.
Birds Of Prey is such a great movie. With lot's great action and comedy. Also it's a Rated R which is a bold step. It's Rated R in a good way, what I actually mean is some of the R Rated movies r so cringe with lot's of sexual jokes but the comedy in Birds Of Prey is perfect. The punchlines and the comebacks works really well.
I'm going to have to go watch this movie now, I hadn't seen it before because I wasn't really a fan of any part of the DCEU. I hope the house rebuilding is going well, I'll be merch shopping soon so hopefully that'll help a little.
Several standalone DC movies that are only loosely connected to the Snyderverse DCEU but done by other directors given free reign (as opposed to Suicide Squad) are actually quite good: "Shazam!" (oldschool adventure film styled family movie) "Wonder Woman" (period piece coloured fish-out-of-water tale) "Birds of Prey" (unreliable narration tall-tale of growing towards responsibilty / bidungsroman parody wrapped into a gratuitous beat-em-up). I love that diversity, which the tonally uniform Snyderverse threatened to destroy before it finally got pulled the plug on. I have no need for a just as monotonously grim-dark shadow universe to the fluffy-bright Marvel serialized-battles-to-infinity soap-opera. From what I've heard, "Wonder Woman 1984" fully embraces the nostalgic campness of a 1980s styled superhero morality play. So at least that's something else again instead of just a rehash of the first Wonder Woman formula. As I said, I am all for honest and unique diversity without restraint. Heck, I even am happy for the Whedon fandom to get an unabashed Marvel clone with DC characters, and for the Snyder fandom that they finally got the full-on, over-the-top, uncompromising, epic-scale, director's cut CGI-slo-mo-battle-fest that they so long desired (although, personally I didn't care much ZSJL). I just find it sad that for the latter it took four mediocre to half-assed expositional movies (corny-kitschie Aquaman with at least more cute little fishies than Arielle, overly serious Man of Steel with its empty Space-Jesus imagery, Batman vs. Superman with more plotholes than collateral damage, and the one butchered by studio head honcho interference: Suicide Squad). If that's the price to pay for something outside the one-size-fits-all Marvel box, give me hit-and-miss DC any time! No offense to Marvel fans, gotta respect their favourite line of products for having tied up any loose ends (...as far as I could still be bothered to keep track of them, at least). In my opinion none of last decade's superhero/supervillain movies can hold a candle to "Joker", though: Such beautiful set-pieces. Such melodramatic tragedy. Such intricate plot development. Such New Hollywood aestheticism. Such multi-layered unreliable narration.
@@elfsieben1450 I actually did like Shazam, I'd forgotten that it was connected to DC. I have very mixed feelings about Wonder Woman. Objectively I can see that it's a great movie, but I harbor a massive amount of hatred for Greek mythology being christianized. It's a big pet peeve for me and the whole time I was watching that movie I couldn't get past it. I haven't seen the new one, I can't decide if I want to.
@@chandravice2267 Where is the Greek mythology being christianized in Wonder Woman? I don't have strong religious sensibilities, so stuff like that tends to escape me, unless Zack Snyder hits me over the head with Space Jesus imagery in Man of Steel (who I heard or read somewhere was rather based on the Jewish Moses myth in his comic book origins).
This movie is severely underrated and I'm so happy to see you cover it! Its whole aesthetic, feel, and unreliable narrator inspired elements for one of my original novels. It's such a unique film and I love it.
This was the only movie I have ever rented when it was new through on-demand streaming (Usually I just wait for something to come to a streaming service I'm subscribed to or see it in theaters) and I bought it on Blu-Ray as soon as I could afterwards. Was the last physical copy of a movie I bought.
I know the voice over turned out to be someone named Riley Silverman but that voice sounded sooo much like BDG lol. Killed it tho! And omg love to see love for BoP :''')
@@beaustoker3466 That's the title of the film? Also typing out "Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn)" takes a bit too long.
@sunbro of astora And even though I do understand how the climax isn't everyone's cup of tea, I'll take Harley roller-skating behind a car over another blue laser shooting up into space any day of the week.
I went to see Birds of Prey in theaters alone because no-one I wanted to go with was interested. Zero regrets. I'm so glad I got that experience just for me right before everything shut down, because Harley has always been an important character to me personally. It's a good movie. It's fun. It knows what it wants to be and it goes for it. And I'm so glad you and other video essayists recognize that! Also, best of luck with your house. I'm sorry 2020 was such a mess in so many different ways. Browsing through your merch right now.
This makes my day... as did watching Birds of Prey again, because it's an incredibly enjoyable film. I love anything that's told in a film noir style (which it is).
I think this film is my favorite thing that's come out of the DCU movie-verse, so I hope more and more people see it over time. Really enjoyed all the early context on Harley Quinn. Also, never noticed the similarities to John Wick, but that's pretty funny. Just any another reason to like Birds of Prey.
This film has literally my favorite action beat of all time in it (Harley throwing her bat into the ground so that it bounces into the guy's chin) Thanks John Wick people!
Only watched this movie so I could watch this up coming episode. And I was not disappointed with either. Thank you for another great episode. Love you Mikey!!!
So I admittedly swore off DC wholesale because I had very little faith in the structure and often-spotty quality of their cinematic universe (knowing that if I invested in watching everything, I'd never find an exit point, like my relationship with Marvel), but I have to say that I really feel like I missed out with this one. Thanks for the thoughts as always, Mikey. Your videos have a direct line to my serotonin production.
Mikey! You gotta see/do a thing on Bo Burnham's new special, Inside! It's nothing at all like one might expect. It's incredible art and I think, right up your alley. Loved this, btw.
Beautiful video, especially the titles - I don't know what editing magic you used to make them match the aesthetic of the film so perfectly but NICE. Now I'm torn between hoping you sell all your stock ASAP to get funds for that house or hoping some of the empathy shirts in my size last until I get paid so I can buy one... :P Wonderful work, wishing you guys the best on the house nightmare.
It was fun. If you didn't come to shut off your brain, and have fun, you're in the wrong theater. Harley is a cartoon. Her worldview is a cartoon, and she's the narrator. In the comics, she killed someone by blowing his head off, but when she looked back, he was slumped against the wall with a blackened face, and (X X)es for eyes. I think they did a pretty good job of translating that, "Harley Vision" to film.
I freakin' love Birds of Prey so so much. I legit had a huge smile on my face the entire time I was watching the movie. It's so good! Ugh, oh my gods. Plus, the soundtrack ~chef's kiss~
Im so happy to see the progress you and yours are making after all that happened. Glad to see you back with a new video. If you keep your head up, then the world can never bring you down
I’m giving you an A+ for not bashing on Batman, I know it was hard, and I’m happy you gave him not only a pass but brownie points, too. (Look a run-on sentence, Mikey likes those).
Commenting before watching to boost the algorithm, but I actually only just recently got around to watching Birds of Prey. It was really good, but I can't help but feel it missed the mark about halfway through. Like, the first half with Harley going around causing chaos and getting in trouble was grand, but I don't think the ensemble assembly quite held up. Of course, this is going to be mostly my personal opinion, but I don't think any of the other characters were as much fun to watch as Harley (which, understandable), but also like Harley herself just felt like she kinda lost the *crunch* she had in the beginning. Like, the fun house, the roller skates, the foggy pier, they all felt tame in comparison to the chaos she got up to earlier, and tame just isn't what I wanted from Harley Quinn. Like, nothing in the fun house was nearly as brutal as Harley jumping on the driver's legs. Also, I was so taken with the initial conflict of "Harley breaks up with Joker and loses his protection, so now everyone she ever wronged is seeking revenge". Like, it was such a simple premise but it works so well, but then that premise kinda got subsumed by "Gotta get this diamond", and I wasn't quite as excited about that. Honestly, I was so excited for "Harley Quinn has to show Gotham's underworld that they need to be scared of her by herself", and I just don't feel like I got that. Like, yeah, she did make the point with Black Mask, but again the conflict was still more about the diamond than Harley Quinn being terrifying, and it just didn't land as well for me. So yeah, overall I liked Birds of Prey. I loved the first half, and thought the second half was alright. I think the first half gave me different expectations than what it was actually setting up in the second half, though, so there was just a bit of a disconnect for me and the movie. Okay, now let's see if Mikey can give me a cool new perspective.
"Honestly, I was so excited for "Harley Quinn has to show Gotham's underworld that they need to be scared of her by herself", and I just don't feel like I got that." Yeah that was one of my bigger problems too in fact, I thought the film had Harley bailed out of trouble too many times to take that line seriously like even at the end of the film it was really Cass that kills Black Mask and Huntress kills Zsasz
@@mikemorro140 That's what I like about the movie, that it left you in two minds about the narrator/protagonist and its own story: It made her tall-tale really fun to watch; it also questioned the idea and real-world-viability of an me-singlehandedly-against-the-world attitude. By doing so, "Birds of Prey: The Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn" is also a light-hearted comedy counterpart to "Joker", which pretty much does the same thing by means of a tragedy: Both movies pit the idea of Gotham's City of Evil trying to convert its inhabitants to ruthless killers hellbent to leave their mark against everyone else "because there's nothing else to do" against the arguably more realistic possibility that that's just half of the picture - if not just an excuse made by an immature, unstable character with clouded judgement and a tendency to manipulate their audience. Arthur Fleck succumbs to this nihilistic delusion once his ideals get crushed, abandons any sense of humour, and the city gets worse for it (a downward spiral into even more violence). [Failed emancipation: egotism gone wrong, loss of identity, no healthy replacement, hellbent on trolling/world-burning.] Harleen Quinzel resigns herself to a ceasefire with an imperfect world, decides to take it with a grain of salt, and everything stays as it ever was (imperfect but not apocalyptic). [Some sort of emancipation / functioning coping mechanism: Taking responsibilty for herself and arguably able to relate to others in a meaningful way by taking at least one under her wing, although to highly questionable ends..., developing morally ambiguous trickster personality instead of falling victim to nihilism and hatred.] These films, although very different in tone, would make a great double feature!
I had the same hangup/hiccup upon watching the film. But the more I thought about it the more wholesome I found it to be. Especially after comparing "Birds of Prey" to "Joker". Both films have similar premises: Gotham City being a hellish moloch that is likely to grind down your sense of identity and any last bit of belief in hope for peace-of-mind or peace-with-the-world: A dog eat dog mentality prevails, to a point where it seems to assimilate and corrupt every last citizen to a state of permanent mistrust and warfare. This City's coat of arms could bear the motto: Let the bastards grind you down. Now, Joker is a tragedy; so, the conflict has to be unresolved by the end: Arthur Fleck loses his ideals with nothing but violent chaos and a meaningless (non-jocular Joker-) mask to replace his lost identity. This is a story of becoming broken and losing trust once and for all (in upholding a sense of self and therefore in relation to others). Birds of Prey, on the other hand, is a comedy; therefore, we need some relief from the alone-in-a-purely-hostile world mindset: But as Gotham City knows no rest for the wicked, and wicked you must be to survive there, the only way out is to face the truth that by fighting alone you will never get into a position of a ceasefire or at least a Mexican stand-off. This is a story of regaining a sense of self and therefore also trust in her ability to connect that self to others, a story of mending.
She was Joker’s manic-depressive pixie dream criminal-sidekick-girl. The fact that it became ‘tame’ was because she lost direction since she’d relied on Joker to define her (the whole Harleen->Harley transformation was all for him/by him). So she found herself as a single person, found new friends that weren’t as wild and psychotic, and then kicked ass in her own way. The kind of mania in the beginning wasn’t sustainable or healthy for her. Her becoming somewhat ‘boring’ halfway through was purposeful and informed the story. It wasn’t for you, it was for the people who wanted her to be less of the Suicide Squad sex kitten ‘girlfriend’ character and more crazy and authentic as a character. Personally, I loved the ‘slower’ characters and Gotham changing with Harley was pretty awesome as a story telling device.
I guess people felt it did the right things for the wrong reasons, and honestly? While I won’t say the movie is great (just because superhero movies don’t do anything for me), I at least feel it does exactly what it sets out to do; I got exactly what I was expecting.
Maybe because the writing for Harley is all over the place, it does nothing with most of the Birds and it has pacing issues and terrible action choreography. I am disappointed more than anything else, I am a fan of Harley (especially her recent series) and the female members of the Birds of Prey but this film just like Suicide Squad, squandered an opportunity to make something actually good.
@@nathanthom8176 Oh yes, I agree. While not an awful movie, I agree that it could’ve been SO much better, had it been written better and been more balanced.
Maybe because they made Cain, one of the best fighters in DC universe and a mute with no social skills that was an expert in reading body language, a freaking chubby kid with stupid lines.
This channel is incredible. I disagree completely with your opinion of the movie- but I loved the video and hearing your thoughts on what you found worthy of appreciation.
I just hope we get an actual Birds Of Prey movie at some point. I honestly enjoyed their parts of this movie more than the Harley parts. I thought Canary and Montoya were more interesting as characters, not to mention Huntress, and I wish they'd gotten more screen time.
In my opinion Harley was all over the place narratively speaking as she has no direction till the last 15 minutes of the film and comes across as not particularly likeable. I however really liked Huntress and Black Canary and like you I would like to see them more, whilst I really am not bothered with this version of Harley (the Harley animated show is my fix now for the character now).
As usual your editing is dynamite. I also really enjoyed Birds of Prey as well. It was also the last movie I got to see in theatres before the whole pizza pan thing really spread.. everywhere.
Birds of Prey was the last movie I saw in theatres before going into lockdown. It was also the last time I got to see my mum in person for six months thanks to the borders closing between our state. I spent over eleven months mostly in quarantine in a very small studio apartment with my cat and one of the things that got me through it was knowing when it was all over there would be more great movies like Birds of Prey coming out eventually, the experience of hanging out with my family and talking about stuff we got to experience together.
this is a great video but the captions did not work for me. they were auto-generated and i missed a lot of what was said whenever Mikey would use special sound effects on his voice.
I'm so glad you're back, Mikey, I hope you're doing better! You're one of my favourite UA-camrs, I'm so happy to be watching your videos, they make me wish I knew you in real life 💖
I walked into this movie expecting some fun, chaotic shenanigans with my favorite DC anti-hero. But it's legitimately the only DCEU film that I unironically enjoy. Even Wonder Woman didn't snag my attention like this film did.
Mikey, I think it is remiss to bring up the actual context of the Birds of Prey comics: it was a superhero team created to rehabilitate female characters who had been subjected to sexual violence during the edgelord period of the late 80's and early 90's. This concept later expanded to an all female hero team.
Follow up: Mikey , what was the thesis statement about Birds of Prey in this video? It feels like you spent more time on the build up instead of the actual movie.
As soon as I get money I’m getting the “no one knows what they’re doing” shirt! I swear!!! I love it and I want to support one of my favorite content creators!
Six minutes in and I'm "Did you stop doing the intro? I LOVE that intro." Then BAM! I feel better. Don't lose the intro please. I loved Birds of Prey, too. Great episode, great series. Thank you so much.
Birds of Prey was my favorite DCEU by *a lot* and it has my favorite action sequences in terms of fight choreography and cinematography from all of the superhero/comic book movies I have seen. The action is trackable throughout, without choppy editing and excessive CG, and it serves a role in character development. The water fight in the jail and the last fight BoP group fight sequences are just *chef's kiss*
This movie was amazing. This movie was the best thing we have of a sequel to Tim Burton’s Batman Returns. The sandwich chase was BOSS! I love this movie.
Hey Mikey! Just wanted to say you're one of my favourite people on UA-cam, I think your videos always shine with how much passion and care you put in them and that you deserve millions of views. Keep being you, man! ^^
Several standalone DC movies that are only loosely connected to the Snyderverse DCEU but done by other directors given free reign (as opposed to Suicide Squad) are actually quite good: "Shazam!" (oldschool adventure film styled family movie) "Wonder Woman" (period piece coloured fish-out-of-water tale) "Birds of Prey" (unreliable narration tall-tale of growing towards responsibilty / bidungsroman parody wrapped into a gratuitous beat-em-up). I love that diversity, which the tonally uniform Snyderverse threatened to destroy before it finally got pulled the plug on. I have no need for a just as monotonously grim-dark shadow universe to the fluffy-bright Marvel serialized-battles-to-infinity soap-opera. From what I've heard, "Wonder Woman 1984" fully embraces the nostalgic campness of a 1980s styled superhero morality play. And "The Batman" is purportedly going to be a superhero take on the hard-boiled detective film noir genre. So at least that's something else again instead of just a rehash of what we last saw from these characters. As I said, I am all for honest and unique diversity without restraint. Heck, I even am happy for the Whedon fandom to have gotten an unabashed Marvel clone with DC characters, and for the Snyder fandom that they finally got the full-on, over-the-top, uncompromising, epic-scale, director's cut CGI-slo-mo-battle-fest of samey warrior (demi-)gods that they so long desired (although, personally I didn't care much ZSJL). I just find it sad that for the latter to emerge it took four mediocre to half-assed expositional movies (corny-kitschie Aquaman with at least more cute little fishies than Arielle, overly serious Man of Steel with its empty Space-Jesus imagery, Batman vs. Superman with more plotholes than collateral damage, and the one completely butchered by studio head honcho interference: Suicide Squad). But - if that's the price to pay for something outside the one-size-fits-all Marvel box, give me hit-and-miss DC any time! No offense to Marvel fans, gotta respect their favourite line of products for having tied up any loose ends (...as far as I could still be bothered to keep track of them, at least). In my opinion none of last decade's superhero/supervillain movies can hold a candle to "Joker", though: Such beautiful set-pieces. Such melodramatic tragedy. Such intricate plot development. Such New Hollywood aestheticism. Such multi-layered unreliable narration.
Thank you for mentioning the awesome Zack Snyder's Justice League film. Birds of Prey really has something substantive to say and really entertaining to watch although it has flaws as being goofy and cartoony at times.
Excuse me EXCUSE ME do you have a t-shirt that says "Empathy Is Cool Actually"??? I haven't bought a t-shirt online since Homestar Runner first launched their merch store but lemme go get one of those...
Birds of Prey came out right as I was coming out of a breakup and it just hit me perfectly. It's the first thing that made me smile and I was bummed it wasn't as well received as other movies. It's one of my favorite DC movies.
I'm happy they are letting more voices tell stories. We get wild rides like this movie when other people get a seat at the helm.
My ranking of the DCEU movies is Birds of Prey, then Aquaman, then Wonder Woman, and I guess the others also exist. Birds of Prey was a good fucking movie, and easily somewhere in the top 10 of "superhero genre" movies.
Unfortunately, the Snyderverse almost killed variety (in world-building, sub-genre, artistic style, point-of-view...) in truly unique DC movies by steering them towards Marvel-oriented, soap-opera uniformity instead.
My favourite DC movies are:
1. Batman Returns
2. A History of Violence
3. Batman Begins
4. V For Vendetta
5. Shazam!
6. Wonder Woman
7. Birds of Prey
8. Watchmen
...and I am really looking forward to watching Wonder Woman and The Batman next.
I love this movie especially as a DCEU installment because it's the exact opposite of the Snyder era that turned me away from the new things DC could be doing to set themselves apart from Marvel in a meaningful way.
> An unapologetically feminist film that says more about the world with its characters than just "The world is dark and that's sooo coool!"? Check.
> Women are written as actual characters with compelling dynamics, psyches, and wants instead of being side pieces to the apparent Randian ubermensch? Check.
> Emotional authenticity over power fantasy? Check.
> A finale that doesn't end in an overly long explosion of CGI? Check.
Batman TAS also brilliantly reinvented Mr. Freeze into a tragic, somewhat relatable villain rather than a campy ice-themed joke. Of course, then Batman and Robin turned him back into a campy ice-themed joke.
Well, to be honest, in Batman & Robin, we have both. We have the tragic, somewhat relatable villain, *combined* with the campy ice-themed jokes. Sure, he enters with "What killed de dinosaurs? De EIS AAAAAAGE", but his whole motivation is rooted in his wife being in cryostasis through the McGregor-Syndrome. ALthough - to be honest - I gotta admit, I sometimes am against "turning all the villains in relatable people". Sometimes you still need your "Snidey-Whiplash"-Moustache-Twirling-Villain, because if you turn each and every villain into a relatable character, the whole thing falls apart.
In especially, that counts for comic-book-movies, since if you try to turn them into realistic movies, other things, maybe staples of the franchise, will be noticed as kinda stupid.
In especially: the batman franchise.
One of the staples was the Bat-signal in the sky, but isn't that signalling the people of Gotham, that their own police force is incompetent? If so: Why are still so many people living there? Say about the 60s Batman what you want, but at least the communication between Bruce/Bats and Comissioner Gordon was stealthy. No one - except maybe Aunt Harriett - would notice, that the Police basically said "We don't know how to handle the situation, so... come, big, bad Bat, come and help us."
Same with Bats itself: How can any criminal be put into Arkham Asylum, if one question would suffice, to get everyone out?
Harvey Dent should just ask the Judge: "Who put me behind bars? And before you say the obvious: Who *is* Batman?"
@@deraltetrekkie6088 >Well, to be honest, in Batman & Robin, we have both. We have the tragic, somewhat relatable villain, combined with the campy ice-themed jokes. Sure, he enters with "What killed de dinosaurs? De EIS AAAAAAGE", but his whole motivation is rooted in his wife being in cryostasis through the McGregor-Syndrome.
True, I almost mentioned that they tried to keep the B:TAS motivation but I still felt they did a terrible job of it. It's probably best if we just pretend that B&R never happened.
> ALthough - to be honest - I gotta admit, I sometimes am against "turning all the villains in relatable people".
I totally agree with you, but bear in mind that this Mr. Freeze update was done in the early 1990s, long before the current trend of doing so. And they did a really good job of it at the time.
@@deraltetrekkie6088 I do believe Freeze being relatable is why Ivy was kept cartoonishly evil in B&R. We sympathized with Freeze (and tbh, I kinda loved the ice puns), so Ivy was the villain you rooted against.
@@darkecofreak23 Hehe, "rooted" - I see what you did there. ^^
I only learned recently that his design in BTAS, which was also very different from any previous version, was done by Mike Mignola!
"It's my go to UA-cam comfort food..." This channel is my go to UA-cam comfort food for any time.
Curb your fanboy!
I love Mikey but he’s right-Dan reached that level most dream of and never achieve. He gave voice to the cognitive dissonance that was the first Suicide Squad movie. He may have peaked with that video.
Mikeys theme music always gives me a feeling of crazy joy for the oncoming soliloquy.
That could be some measure of quality.
The jingles of reminders of good viewing, nostalgia in the making.
Suck up
For real though. I will go back and watch Movies with Mikey videos a dozen at a time sometimes. They're great! Some of my favorite UA-cam comfort food
Have you seen the Harley Quinn animated series? It's differently weird and awesome.
It has no reason for being as great as it is. Also, the second season has some of the best Batman related content in a long long time
The Harley Quinn show is a VERY nice breath of fresh air; it’s shockingly violent, oddly humorous at times, has a bunch of great characters working off of each other perfectly...
Not a masterpiece, but I definitely like it! :)
@@jamesburgess2k they have the PERFECT sort of Batman for what that show needs him to be. Just this one, comically-stern guy refusing to go along with the silly, amoral spirit of the show
UPDATE: apparently this Batman is contractually-forbidden from going down on anyone, so I have to dock him a few points now
@@jamesburgess2k where's my goddamn electric car, Bruce?!?
I think this movie will be one of those that people will appreciate it more and more as time goes on. It was a very fun movie and I'm glad it was the last movie I saw in theaters before The Dark Times. Also, good luck with the house! Going to buy some merchandise now!
It’s feminist crap. It’s downright awful.
@@jacobq.2204 Okie dokie Buckaroo
I, for one, found a lot to appreciate about the movie, even if the end result could’ve been a lot better. Cathy Yan had only made one other movie before this one, and that one is much, much, MUCH better... but this one is, at the very least, not bad.
@@jacobq.2204 no, it’s a pretty fun movie.
Birds of Prey was a really fun movie!
Something that I love about Birds of Prey (and Shazam) is that instead of a typical love interest, it's the sidekick BUT it still kinda has the same beats as a love interest! Our heroes are thrown together by circumstances, they have meaningful conversation and even though they argue, they end the movie riding off into the sunset together! Heck, Harley paraphrases a romantic line from As Good As It Gets to Cassie ("You make me wanna be a less crappy person) and it works!! BOP SAYS PLATONIC LOVE IS STILL MEANINGFUL LOVE!!
Plus, if someone wants a Harley love story, the Harley Quinn animated series is amaaaaaaaazing.
I enjoyed the heck out of Birds of Prey. Just big old goofy fun with enough character development stuff going on to keep me hooked. Also, that sandwich looked dope.
Dope in the sandwich? A whole new hypothesis on the origin of Harley's psychotic mindset emerges...
Birds of Prey is crazy, and entertaining as heck!
It’s an unapologetic kick ass chick empowerment flick - and there’s nothing wrong with that!!
And to be clear - it does not ‘diminish’ men in any way - just as a kick ass testosterone fueled John Wick film doesn’t diminish women
Birds of Prey at its core, is a love story, between a girl and her fried egg sandwich 🥪 - nothing, and I mean nothing should get in the way of that!!!
True, true.
Genius Bonus here: Fried food is seen as a hangover cure, which can imply Harley liked hitting the booze hard.
Oh hey, a new Movies with Mikey!
Oh, hey...it's about Birds of Prey? One of the best things DC has done in years?
...Today is a good day.
If anyone was wondering where the quotes came from; Shakespeare, A mid Summer Night's Dream, last lines of the play.
If we shadows have offended,
Think but this, and all is mended,
That you have but slumber'd here
While these visions did appear.
And this weak and idle theme,
No more yielding but a dream,
Gentles, do not reprehend:
if you pardon, we will mend:
And, as I am an honest Puck,
If we have unearned luck
Now to 'scape the serpent's tongue,
We will make amends ere long;
Else the Puck a liar call;
So, good night unto you all.
Give me your hands, if we be friends,
And Robin shall restore amends.
At first I wasn't sure but the Puck gave it away. Early fourth-wall breaker I guess.
Here I was thinking it was Brian McElhaney and Mikey was giving a nod.
The Police Station Assault in BoP is the single best action setpiece in the entire DCU. Full stop, the best.
💯
Yessss
You sure about that?
Yep. The Batfleck fight in the warehouse is phenomenal, but this one was amazing.
Yeah, my favorite part was how they all waited their turns, to go at her one-by-one, & didn't take shots, even when they had clear opportunity -- that's the kind of polite behavior I love in an action movie... :/
It's depressing that I haven't been able to go to a theater in over a year but I'm so happy that my last theater trip pre-pandemic was my 5th viewing of this movie!
It's so brilliant! I'm happy you did an ep on it.
You're writing is brilliant but that "A mid Summer Night's Dream" transition into part 3 was inspired on a whole new level.
Please keep doing this.
I wanna know who is reading it because my mind thinks it's an amalgamation of Jesse Eisenberg and Michael Cera and I'm sure that's not just me reading into things and filling in blanks
@@strudelninja It sounds so much like BDG to me.
@@strudelninja The voice of Puck is credited at 16:48. Riley Silverman.
Yeah Snyder made his vision really well, I just find his vision to be joyless and depressing. It's good at being that but I hope we can move on and get new visions.
god. I adored birds of prey so much simple for being as bizarre as it was and I am delighted ti know I am not alone in that.
its my little slice of wonderland with a lot of blood and you're absolutely right in saying... its a miracle that it got made. not only did it get made, it got made joyfully by the cast and crew. I could always feel it too and thats part of what makes it dynamite-ness so apparent to me. you can taste how much everyone was having fun and excited about this.
I wish that it was given more space to breathe in the public cultural brain space than it did but im glad that you had a chance to talk about it. go king give us everything
The hair tie moment is one of my favorite things in any super hero movie ever
Making Harley's doctorate an actual power was all I really needed to love this movie.
Did I really see it before the whole.... 2020 thing!?
Golly.
One of the last things I enjoyed before the sick.
Same. It was literally the last time I went to the theatre.
@@joseaguilar3323 me too!
Same here; like José, it was the last thing I saw before The Dark Times™
@@oldmanramblingatclouds Also me! Glad it was a good one!
I know, right? 2020 was another world-changing event. It was either this or Charlie’s Angels, another movie made by women for women that was really good but didn’t make as much as it should have because of that, that was the last movie I saw in theaters before the suck.
Looks like I'm buying another shirt because this content is f****** premium
I can't count how many times I've already thought "okay, this intro has been going on for far too long. Surely he's gotten rid of his brilliant opening credits that I love so much now. Why, oh cruel world, why!" Although I have to ask, is it still called opening credits if it's toward the middle of the video and there was an entire set of different opening credits already?
I mean, if Good Omens can have their intro 30 minutes into an episode, Mikey can definitely get away with this.
It's good to see you're still around, Penny Lane.
@@brandonthesteele wait, when did we last talk?
Oh, it's still there?? Thank god, when the title of the movie came up I was very sad. I paused and went to soundcloud just to listen to it. Iconic.
@@peggy7744 haha, it's on Soundcloud? =) Not the same though, the editing along with the music is so good! 😚👌
I loved Birds of Prey when it came out! I disliked almost every other DCEU film but this film was my jam! I’m happy we still get to see Margo Robbie as Harley Quinn!
So far the only two real hits of the DCEU are BoP and Shazam. With Wonder Woman and Aquaman both being servicably enjoyable in different ways (WW was competent and solid with a weak ending, and Aquaman was kinda bad but like in a good way, but that's just kinda Justin Lin's thing). And probably, "The Suicide Squad" will be very good.
@@QuintessentialQs You mean James Wan
Legolas - You have my like...
Ghimli - And my merch purchase!
I come back and watch this video every now and then. I love the glorious necessity of the 'intro' to an 18 minute video being fully 1/3 of the run time, only to end/start with a quote from my favorite Shakespeare play. It's like Mikey and team asked me what I wanted with Harley Quinn discourse and put it into a video.
I wasn't a big fan of the BoP, but I loved the visuals. Like Speed Racer, the universe was colorful and immersive, the bad guys were comically over the top, the bank scene was wonderfully shot and choreographed, and the unreliable narrator of Harley made it all work (for the most part). It was just some of the comedy didn't hit right for me and the plot did not make sense for most of the characters (the building of the group throughout the movie felt neither organic or narratively justified). Still love hearing Mikey's take; he finds the best in every movie and makes me want to watch them again to see it through more positive eyes.
Really love where you came around to by the end of the episode and how much you packed into this eighteen-minute gem -- and all while rebuilding a house! Dang. Hats off. I'm going to go buy some merch now.
You're on of the very few people on UA-cam who appreciates this movie and that makes me so happy.
Birds Of Prey is such a great movie. With lot's great action and comedy. Also it's a Rated R which is a bold step. It's Rated R in a good way, what I actually mean is some of the R Rated movies r so cringe with lot's of sexual jokes but the comedy in Birds Of Prey is perfect. The punchlines and the comebacks works really well.
I'm going to have to go watch this movie now, I hadn't seen it before because I wasn't really a fan of any part of the DCEU. I hope the house rebuilding is going well, I'll be merch shopping soon so hopefully that'll help a little.
Several standalone DC movies that are only loosely connected to the Snyderverse DCEU but done by other directors given free reign (as opposed to Suicide Squad) are actually quite good:
"Shazam!"
(oldschool adventure film styled family movie)
"Wonder Woman"
(period piece coloured fish-out-of-water tale)
"Birds of Prey"
(unreliable narration tall-tale of growing towards responsibilty / bidungsroman parody wrapped into a gratuitous beat-em-up).
I love that diversity, which the tonally uniform Snyderverse threatened to destroy before it finally got pulled the plug on. I have no need for a just as monotonously grim-dark shadow universe to the fluffy-bright Marvel serialized-battles-to-infinity soap-opera.
From what I've heard,
"Wonder Woman 1984"
fully embraces the nostalgic campness of a 1980s styled superhero morality play.
So at least that's something else again instead of just a rehash of the first Wonder Woman formula.
As I said, I am all for honest and unique diversity without restraint. Heck, I even am happy for the Whedon fandom to get an unabashed Marvel clone with DC characters, and for the Snyder fandom that they finally got the full-on, over-the-top, uncompromising, epic-scale, director's cut CGI-slo-mo-battle-fest that they so long desired (although, personally I didn't care much ZSJL). I just find it sad that for the latter it took four mediocre to half-assed expositional movies (corny-kitschie Aquaman with at least more cute little fishies than Arielle, overly serious Man of Steel with its empty Space-Jesus imagery, Batman vs. Superman with more plotholes than collateral damage, and the one butchered by studio head honcho interference: Suicide Squad).
If that's the price to pay for something outside the one-size-fits-all Marvel box, give me hit-and-miss DC any time!
No offense to Marvel fans, gotta respect their favourite line of products for having tied up any loose ends (...as far as I could still be bothered to keep track of them, at least).
In my opinion none of last decade's superhero/supervillain movies can hold a candle to "Joker", though:
Such beautiful set-pieces.
Such melodramatic tragedy.
Such intricate plot development.
Such New Hollywood aestheticism.
Such multi-layered unreliable narration.
@@elfsieben1450 I actually did like Shazam, I'd forgotten that it was connected to DC. I have very mixed feelings about Wonder Woman. Objectively I can see that it's a great movie, but I harbor a massive amount of hatred for Greek mythology being christianized. It's a big pet peeve for me and the whole time I was watching that movie I couldn't get past it. I haven't seen the new one, I can't decide if I want to.
@@chandravice2267 Where is the Greek mythology being christianized in Wonder Woman? I don't have strong religious sensibilities, so stuff like that tends to escape me, unless Zack Snyder hits me over the head with Space Jesus imagery in Man of Steel (who I heard or read somewhere was rather based on the Jewish Moses myth in his comic book origins).
I recomend to you, birds of prey is my fav movie now, love it
The DCEU did stumble hard at first, but between Aquaman, Shazam, the first Wonder Woman, and Birds of Prey, I felt it was getting on the right track.
This movie is severely underrated and I'm so happy to see you cover it! Its whole aesthetic, feel, and unreliable narrator inspired elements for one of my original novels. It's such a unique film and I love it.
This was the only movie I have ever rented when it was new through on-demand streaming (Usually I just wait for something to come to a streaming service I'm subscribed to or see it in theaters) and I bought it on Blu-Ray as soon as I could afterwards. Was the last physical copy of a movie I bought.
I know the voice over turned out to be someone named Riley Silverman but that voice sounded sooo much like BDG lol. Killed it tho! And omg love to see love for BoP :''')
wait NOOOO
i was so sure it was BDG
i feel so lost.
Hell yeah. I will never stop telling everyone how good Birds of Prey is.
Keep dreaming, son
Stop calling it birds of prey.
@@beaustoker3466 That's the title of the film? Also typing out "Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn)" takes a bit too long.
@sunbro of astora And even though I do understand how the climax isn't everyone's cup of tea, I'll take Harley roller-skating behind a car over another blue laser shooting up into space any day of the week.
It is wonderful. Best film of 2020.
I can't explain it, but this script and the editing felt so tight. Y'all are doing an amazing job.
I went to see Birds of Prey in theaters alone because no-one I wanted to go with was interested. Zero regrets. I'm so glad I got that experience just for me right before everything shut down, because Harley has always been an important character to me personally. It's a good movie. It's fun. It knows what it wants to be and it goes for it. And I'm so glad you and other video essayists recognize that!
Also, best of luck with your house. I'm sorry 2020 was such a mess in so many different ways. Browsing through your merch right now.
Good stuff! Always enjoy Movies with Mikey! Looking forward to the long awaited return of Deep Dive!
This makes my day... as did watching Birds of Prey again, because it's an incredibly enjoyable film. I love anything that's told in a film noir style (which it is).
I think this film is my favorite thing that's come out of the DCU movie-verse, so I hope more and more people see it over time. Really enjoyed all the early context on Harley Quinn. Also, never noticed the similarities to John Wick, but that's pretty funny. Just any another reason to like Birds of Prey.
This film has literally my favorite action beat of all time in it (Harley throwing her bat into the ground so that it bounces into the guy's chin) Thanks John Wick people!
Only watched this movie so I could watch this up coming episode. And I was not disappointed with either. Thank you for another great episode. Love you Mikey!!!
So I admittedly swore off DC wholesale because I had very little faith in the structure and often-spotty quality of their cinematic universe (knowing that if I invested in watching everything, I'd never find an exit point, like my relationship with Marvel), but I have to say that I really feel like I missed out with this one.
Thanks for the thoughts as always, Mikey. Your videos have a direct line to my serotonin production.
I think I enjoyed BoP more than anyone I went to see it with so thank you for making this video.
Mikey! You gotta see/do a thing on Bo Burnham's new special, Inside! It's nothing at all like one might expect. It's incredible art and I think, right up your alley. Loved this, btw.
Welp, this moved BoP up on my "to watch" que.
Also gonna need one of those empathy is cool shirts.
Beautiful video, especially the titles - I don't know what editing magic you used to make them match the aesthetic of the film so perfectly but NICE. Now I'm torn between hoping you sell all your stock ASAP to get funds for that house or hoping some of the empathy shirts in my size last until I get paid so I can buy one... :P Wonderful work, wishing you guys the best on the house nightmare.
I am engaging with this content.
I am engaging with this content.
I don't think you are engaging with the content enough. I'm creating conflict in the comments to cause further engagement.
I'm replying to your comment and creating more engagement by doing so
I am engaging with your engagement because this video promotes discussion
I would like to encourage engagement with the content
Birds of Prey was my favorite movie from 2020 and I don't even like any superhero movies at all, I can't even believe this happened
Try Tank Girl next.
I think it was made for people like you.
And you might as well see where Birds of Prey came from.
Enjoy.
It was fun. If you didn't come to shut off your brain, and have fun, you're in the wrong theater. Harley is a cartoon. Her worldview is a cartoon, and she's the narrator. In the comics, she killed someone by blowing his head off, but when she looked back, he was slumped against the wall with a blackened face, and (X X)es for eyes. I think they did a pretty good job of translating that, "Harley Vision" to film.
May your new home be filled with sunshine and joy, Mikey. We love you!
8:41 WAIT is that the Deep Dive crew saying the "Boom! Gottem!"??? I love it!
I freakin' love Birds of Prey so so much. I legit had a huge smile on my face the entire time I was watching the movie. It's so good! Ugh, oh my gods. Plus, the soundtrack ~chef's kiss~
Im so happy to see the progress you and yours are making after all that happened. Glad to see you back with a new video. If you keep your head up, then the world can never bring you down
These episodes always hit that little extra bit harder than I expect them too.
was waiting for you to do Birds of Prey, it’s just the best
This was the last movie I saw in theaters before The Everything happened. It was a good one to go out on.
I’m giving you an A+ for not bashing on Batman, I know it was hard, and I’m happy you gave him not only a pass but brownie points, too. (Look a run-on sentence, Mikey likes those).
Commenting before watching to boost the algorithm, but I actually only just recently got around to watching Birds of Prey. It was really good, but I can't help but feel it missed the mark about halfway through. Like, the first half with Harley going around causing chaos and getting in trouble was grand, but I don't think the ensemble assembly quite held up. Of course, this is going to be mostly my personal opinion, but I don't think any of the other characters were as much fun to watch as Harley (which, understandable), but also like Harley herself just felt like she kinda lost the *crunch* she had in the beginning. Like, the fun house, the roller skates, the foggy pier, they all felt tame in comparison to the chaos she got up to earlier, and tame just isn't what I wanted from Harley Quinn. Like, nothing in the fun house was nearly as brutal as Harley jumping on the driver's legs.
Also, I was so taken with the initial conflict of "Harley breaks up with Joker and loses his protection, so now everyone she ever wronged is seeking revenge". Like, it was such a simple premise but it works so well, but then that premise kinda got subsumed by "Gotta get this diamond", and I wasn't quite as excited about that. Honestly, I was so excited for "Harley Quinn has to show Gotham's underworld that they need to be scared of her by herself", and I just don't feel like I got that. Like, yeah, she did make the point with Black Mask, but again the conflict was still more about the diamond than Harley Quinn being terrifying, and it just didn't land as well for me.
So yeah, overall I liked Birds of Prey. I loved the first half, and thought the second half was alright. I think the first half gave me different expectations than what it was actually setting up in the second half, though, so there was just a bit of a disconnect for me and the movie. Okay, now let's see if Mikey can give me a cool new perspective.
"Honestly, I was so excited for "Harley Quinn has to show Gotham's underworld that they need to be scared of her by herself", and I just don't feel like I got that."
Yeah that was one of my bigger problems too in fact, I thought the film had Harley bailed out of trouble too many times to take that line seriously like even at the end of the film it was really Cass that kills Black Mask and Huntress kills Zsasz
@@mikemorro140
That's what I like about the movie, that it left you in two minds about the narrator/protagonist and its own story:
It made her tall-tale really fun to watch; it also questioned the idea and real-world-viability of an me-singlehandedly-against-the-world attitude.
By doing so,
"Birds of Prey: The Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn" is also a light-hearted comedy counterpart to "Joker", which pretty much does the same thing by means of a tragedy:
Both movies pit the idea of Gotham's City of Evil trying to convert its inhabitants to ruthless killers hellbent to leave their mark against everyone else "because there's nothing else to do" against the arguably more realistic possibility that that's just half of the picture - if not just an excuse made by an immature, unstable character with clouded judgement and a tendency to manipulate their audience.
Arthur Fleck succumbs to this nihilistic delusion once his ideals get crushed, abandons any sense of humour, and the city gets worse for it (a downward spiral into even more violence).
[Failed emancipation: egotism gone wrong, loss of identity, no healthy replacement, hellbent on trolling/world-burning.]
Harleen Quinzel resigns herself to a ceasefire with an imperfect world, decides to take it with a grain of salt, and everything stays as it ever was (imperfect but not apocalyptic).
[Some sort of emancipation / functioning coping mechanism: Taking responsibilty for herself and arguably able to relate to others in a meaningful way by taking at least one under her wing, although to highly questionable ends..., developing morally ambiguous trickster personality instead of falling victim to nihilism and hatred.]
These films, although very different in tone, would make a great double feature!
I had the same hangup/hiccup upon watching the film. But the more I thought about it the more wholesome I found it to be.
Especially after comparing "Birds of Prey" to "Joker".
Both films have similar premises:
Gotham City being a hellish moloch that is likely to grind down your sense of identity and any last bit of belief in hope for peace-of-mind or peace-with-the-world: A dog eat dog mentality prevails, to a point where it seems to assimilate and corrupt every last citizen to a state of permanent mistrust and warfare. This City's coat of arms could bear the motto: Let the bastards grind you down.
Now, Joker is a tragedy; so, the conflict has to be unresolved by the end: Arthur Fleck loses his ideals with nothing but violent chaos and a meaningless (non-jocular Joker-) mask to replace his lost identity. This is a story of becoming broken and losing trust once and for all (in upholding a sense of self and therefore in relation to others).
Birds of Prey, on the other hand, is a comedy; therefore, we need some relief from the alone-in-a-purely-hostile world mindset: But as Gotham City knows no rest for the wicked, and wicked you must be to survive there, the only way out is to face the truth that by fighting alone you will never get into a position of a ceasefire or at least a Mexican stand-off. This is a story of regaining a sense of self and therefore also trust in her ability to connect that self to others, a story of mending.
She was Joker’s manic-depressive pixie dream criminal-sidekick-girl. The fact that it became ‘tame’ was because she lost direction since she’d relied on Joker to define her (the whole Harleen->Harley transformation was all for him/by him). So she found herself as a single person, found new friends that weren’t as wild and psychotic, and then kicked ass in her own way. The kind of mania in the beginning wasn’t sustainable or healthy for her.
Her becoming somewhat ‘boring’ halfway through was purposeful and informed the story. It wasn’t for you, it was for the people who wanted her to be less of the Suicide Squad sex kitten ‘girlfriend’ character and more crazy and authentic as a character. Personally, I loved the ‘slower’ characters and Gotham changing with Harley was pretty awesome as a story telling device.
@@vysharra
Except she ditches those friends at the end of the film
I don't get why people didn't like this movie. It's exactly what suicide squad should have been and Margot Robbie is a perfect Harley Quinn.
I guess people felt it did the right things for the wrong reasons, and honestly? While I won’t say the movie is great (just because superhero movies don’t do anything for me), I at least feel it does exactly what it sets out to do; I got exactly what I was expecting.
The funhouse fight scene lost me, if this is Quinn having some kind of episode it wasn't conveyed.
Maybe because the writing for Harley is all over the place, it does nothing with most of the Birds and it has pacing issues and terrible action choreography. I am disappointed more than anything else, I am a fan of Harley (especially her recent series) and the female members of the Birds of Prey but this film just like Suicide Squad, squandered an opportunity to make something actually good.
@@nathanthom8176 Oh yes, I agree. While not an awful movie, I agree that it could’ve been SO much better, had it been written better and been more balanced.
Maybe because they made Cain, one of the best fighters in DC universe and a mute with no social skills that was an expert in reading body language, a freaking chubby kid with stupid lines.
This channel is incredible. I disagree completely with your opinion of the movie- but I loved the video and hearing your thoughts on what you found worthy of appreciation.
same
Beautiful that we can disagree without devolving into insults.
@stroncal nobody here is trying to argue man please drop it
LMBO, I love this comment. Thanks for thr positivity!
Yup! Same here. Love mikey enough to watch a video about a movie I still don't like.
Birds of Prey is my favorite comic book movie. The self-serious Logans and Dark Knights can get bent. I adore this movie.
LOVE the Deep Dive scenes included!!
I just hope we get an actual Birds Of Prey movie at some point. I honestly enjoyed their parts of this movie more than the Harley parts. I thought Canary and Montoya were more interesting as characters, not to mention Huntress, and I wish they'd gotten more screen time.
In my opinion Harley was all over the place narratively speaking as she has no direction till the last 15 minutes of the film and comes across as not particularly likeable. I however really liked Huntress and Black Canary and like you I would like to see them more, whilst I really am not bothered with this version of Harley (the Harley animated show is my fix now for the character now).
This movie put me in a real good place going into Quarantine last year. I loved this movie to pieces and I still watch it in my weekly rotation.
When one of your favorite content creators calls out the video you've watched compulsively as his own comfort food... Awesomeness.
As usual your editing is dynamite. I also really enjoyed Birds of Prey as well. It was also the last movie I got to see in theatres before the whole pizza pan thing really spread.. everywhere.
I fully support Brian David Gilbert doing voiceover cameos forever and I'll be mad if I misheard that
Birds of Prey was the last movie I saw in theatres before going into lockdown. It was also the last time I got to see my mum in person for six months thanks to the borders closing between our state. I spent over eleven months mostly in quarantine in a very small studio apartment with my cat and one of the things that got me through it was knowing when it was all over there would be more great movies like Birds of Prey coming out eventually, the experience of hanging out with my family and talking about stuff we got to experience together.
I was looking forward to this movie and was quite satisfied, especially with rollerblade scene (or roller skates?) This movie was good
This may not be perfect, but it got me through the pandemic and it's one of my go-to's when I don't know what to watch. It never disappoints.
My life goal is to love stuff as much as Mikey loves movies. Thank you for your passion, sir, and thank you for your inspiration.
I really like Birds of Prey, also you do an empathy is cool actually shirt? I'm gonna have to buy that!
2:54 remember that scene where Harley is seeing her Greatest Wish moment and it's her and Joker but normal and parents?
Best part of Birds of Prey:
Dinah: “Quit your job”
Renee: “Why”
Dinah: “Join my emo band!”
Renee (realizing ACAB): “Sure”
Obviously a the best decision.
This is enough for me to dodge this film like the plague.
@@rafjord1721 Too bad, so sad, don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out
My favourite series in youtube. Period. This deserves to blow up.
Yes yes yes... It is so good to see you are still alive and kicking, Mr. Mikey !!! I effing missed you and your uncompromising enthusiasm...
Great video! I really enjoyed Birds of Prey. Glad I'm not the only one.
this is a great video but the captions did not work for me. they were auto-generated and i missed a lot of what was said whenever Mikey would use special sound effects on his voice.
The edit on this is off the charts. Awesome work!
I'm so glad you're back, Mikey, I hope you're doing better! You're one of my favourite UA-camrs, I'm so happy to be watching your videos, they make me wish I knew you in real life 💖
Received 3 sweet t-shirts yesterday and then a new video today!?! Is this the best week or what?!
I walked into this movie expecting some fun, chaotic shenanigans with my favorite DC anti-hero. But it's legitimately the only DCEU film that I unironically enjoy. Even Wonder Woman didn't snag my attention like this film did.
Mikey, I think it is remiss to bring up the actual context of the Birds of Prey comics: it was a superhero team created to rehabilitate female characters who had been subjected to sexual violence during the edgelord period of the late 80's and early 90's. This concept later expanded to an all female hero team.
Even Alan Moore later said he regretted crippling Batgirl the way he did. And he's not a man who's apologized for much in the course of his career.
Follow up: Mikey , what was the thesis statement about Birds of Prey in this video? It feels like you spent more time on the build up instead of the actual movie.
As soon as I get money I’m getting the “no one knows what they’re doing” shirt! I swear!!! I love it and I want to support one of my favorite content creators!
Six minutes in and I'm "Did you stop doing the intro? I LOVE that intro." Then BAM! I feel better. Don't lose the intro please. I loved Birds of Prey, too. Great episode, great series. Thank you so much.
Involuntary smile and chills when the intro came up. Love you guys!
Loved this film, Ewan McGregor stole the show for me but the action was just **chefs kiss**
Seeing a new video from you always brightens my day. Fantastic!
How do you do this so good?! I am constantly impressed with how entertained I am on your channel.
Mikey: Birds of Prey is... Dynamite.
Me: 'Cause I-I.I'm in the stars tonigt...
Anybody?
No?
I'll see myself out..
I'm really glad birds of prey was the last movie i got to watch in theaters before the world stopped, it was a really good time
Yes. Always ready to gush about this movie
Birds of Prey was my favorite DCEU by *a lot* and it has my favorite action sequences in terms of fight choreography and cinematography from all of the superhero/comic book movies I have seen. The action is trackable throughout, without choppy editing and excessive CG, and it serves a role in character development. The water fight in the jail and the last fight BoP group fight sequences are just *chef's kiss*
Hell Yeah 😍🔥🔥🔥
This movie was amazing. This movie was the best thing we have of a sequel to Tim Burton’s Batman Returns. The sandwich chase was BOSS! I love this movie.
Hey Mikey! Just wanted to say you're one of my favourite people on UA-cam, I think your videos always shine with how much passion and care you put in them and that you deserve millions of views. Keep being you, man! ^^
Love my "But Did You Know?" shirt, thanks so much Mikey!
If Wonder Woman 2017 and Birds of Prey is what we got, I think that the Snyderverse was worth it.
Several standalone DC movies that are only loosely connected to the Snyderverse DCEU but done by other directors given free reign (as opposed to Suicide Squad) are actually quite good:
"Shazam!"
(oldschool adventure film styled family movie)
"Wonder Woman"
(period piece coloured fish-out-of-water tale)
"Birds of Prey"
(unreliable narration tall-tale of growing towards responsibilty / bidungsroman parody wrapped into a gratuitous beat-em-up).
I love that diversity, which the tonally uniform Snyderverse threatened to destroy before it finally got pulled the plug on. I have no need for a just as monotonously grim-dark shadow universe to the fluffy-bright Marvel serialized-battles-to-infinity soap-opera.
From what I've heard,
"Wonder Woman 1984"
fully embraces the nostalgic campness of a 1980s styled superhero morality play.
And "The Batman" is purportedly going to be a superhero take on the hard-boiled detective film noir genre.
So at least that's something else again instead of just a rehash of what we last saw from these characters.
As I said, I am all for honest and unique diversity without restraint. Heck, I even am happy for the Whedon fandom to have gotten an unabashed Marvel clone with DC characters, and for the Snyder fandom that they finally got the full-on, over-the-top, uncompromising, epic-scale, director's cut CGI-slo-mo-battle-fest of samey warrior (demi-)gods that they so long desired (although, personally I didn't care much ZSJL). I just find it sad that for the latter to emerge it took four mediocre to half-assed expositional movies (corny-kitschie Aquaman with at least more cute little fishies than Arielle, overly serious Man of Steel with its empty Space-Jesus imagery, Batman vs. Superman with more plotholes than collateral damage, and the one completely butchered by studio head honcho interference: Suicide Squad).
But -
if that's the price to pay for something outside the one-size-fits-all Marvel box, give me hit-and-miss DC any time!
No offense to Marvel fans, gotta respect their favourite line of products for having tied up any loose ends (...as far as I could still be bothered to keep track of them, at least).
In my opinion none of last decade's superhero/supervillain movies can hold a candle to "Joker", though:
Such beautiful set-pieces.
Such melodramatic tragedy.
Such intricate plot development.
Such New Hollywood aestheticism.
Such multi-layered unreliable narration.
A NEW MOVIES WITH MIKEY IS ON? *smashes like from excitement before it even starts*
YES!!! THIS FILM IS SO UNDERRATED!!! Thank you Mikey!!!
Thank you for mentioning the awesome Zack Snyder's Justice League film. Birds of Prey really has something substantive to say and really entertaining to watch although it has flaws as being goofy and cartoony at times.
Excuse me EXCUSE ME do you have a t-shirt that says "Empathy Is Cool Actually"??? I haven't bought a t-shirt online since Homestar Runner first launched their merch store but lemme go get one of those...